functional certification

hi all,
Can anyone give me the details of functional certification for peoplesoft.I have already finished my technical certification.Are there any pr-requisites and wat is the difficulty level.I found the technical certification very ok.

I am a bit confused. In this email, you stated that you have already
received your technical certification. But in another email, you stated
that you hadn't worked on App Designer alot. If that's the case, it's
difficult to believe you passed the technical certification tests (Tools and
Tech).

There are only a handful of ways to become 'certified' in PeopleSoft.

1. You work for PeopleSoft directly, or one of their 30 or so Alliance
Partners.

If you work for an alliance partner, chances are they have some course
material already put together to aid you in your certification process.

2. You have completed a set curriculm of courses, which are excessive,
costly, and time consuming.

If this is the case, then you should already have the knowledge required to
pass the certification exams.

Personally, I doubt that either the above are true for you, however, I have
been known to be wrong once or twice in the past.

Dido .... this is a great forum to learn from, but you need to be honest or
no one will help you at all.

.... and once you leave PeopleSoft your certification doesn't count any
more. The mad rush to get certified by clearly inexperienced people is just
another indicator of how useless the whole thing is. There's no substitute
for experience.

I too want to learn a lot from this forum.I have been honest to my best knowledge.I think I have not been able to convey wat I wanted to.
In the company which i have joined,they gave us a 20-22 days training in peopletools(app designer,sqr,peoplecode).
These are the only days in which i worked on App designer.when i say i have not worked on app designer means i haven't worked on any project and so donnot have practical experience.

Also reagrding certifiaction,Technical certification donnot have any practical exam .Everything is theory and that to multiple choice.Also my teammates who have already given the certification have helped in studying.Reading peoplebooks was alos helpful.But again the fact remains no practical experience.I donnot know whether this is the actual echnical certification or are u talking about somehing else.

So i am a bit confused whether directly jumping to functional will help me or not.

I can certainly understand your need to get "certified" in PeopleSoft. It's
just that you don't seem to see or understand what the others have been
trying to tell you. This piece of paper (or .pdf file containing your
certified logo) certifying that you are certified and has passed their exams
will only work if you are working for one of the alliance partners. If
you're not connected with any of these firms, it doesn't really mean
anything.

And contrary to what you may believe, it may really work against you should
you try banking on it to get a good job or get on a good project. You could
get considered for some projects based on your "certification" but how would
you expect to survive the actual tech interview when you really haven't seen
real time scenarios - failing jobs, Pcode errors, app server issues. I'm
sure they will ask you how you would handle specific situations and not
theoretical concepts.

The certification is really nothing if you think about it. If you were to
ask me, I would concentrate more on getting actual PSoft experience whether
Functional or Technical and get good at it.

The scope of what you reviewed or will review is probably just a fraction of
what you will encounter when on an actual project site. There are just so
many things to learn.

It may not be worth the effort trying to pass the Tech Certification if you
can't even muster the gumption to create an App Engine from scratch or do a
simple CI. I've seen consultants plaster their "Certified Logo" on their
curriculum vitae but don't know how to schedule an App Engine to run on the
scheduler. Go figure....

I agree with Rene. I worked as a consultant on a Peoplesoft project about 3
years ago which I was brought in as a replacement for a "Certified"
individual who had been working there for 2 months and had produced nothing
but confusion. Upon meeting me he even had the audacity to challenge me by
asking if I was certified. My response was no I'm not "certified", but I
have many past clients who are "satisfied" and will offer good references
regarding my skills - which really is the most important thing of all!

I too agree with you guys that there is no substitute to experience.
But there is nothing wrong in taking certification by an inexperienced
person as it will help him to get into some project and gain experience.
After all what is experience no one is experienced from the starting of
their career. But yes the attitude of a person after getting certified is
matter of concern what you all are trying to raise through this forum.

I got technology certified after my training which helped me to get into
project. I am working & learning a lot from my senior colleagues who aren't
certified but they are immense knowledge on the subject & even I feel
certification is not at all needed for them.

No one is saying that getting "certified" is wrong. What I, or the others
are saying (I think), is that you're better off getting true and more field
experience before going on a quest to get "certified." You should be
commended if that's part of your plan. But you shouldn't really use it as
gauge on how far and how much you know about PeopleSoft. I am sure that one
of the motives in getting that is to put it in your resume and nothing else.
Sure, it will set you apart from the others nonetheless but after that what?
You're certified but have no idea on how some of the theories you learned
really work.

Surely, there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you plan on doing.
But you will be short changing your client and yourself if you try to get
hired on the basis of being a "certified" PeopleSoft professional. It's
almost like you want to jump ahead and do away with the requisite learning
curve everyone has to go through. It may work but will it sustain a good
career in the field? No one really knows.

But then, I think we should close this topic now because this should be for
Psoft problem/solution sharing don't you guys think?

But is it right for him to get onto the project because the client has
placed a false sense of security on the certification. PeopleSoft touts the
certification when presenting for Application Sales as well as Service
sales. In the clients eye, especially fresh implementations, they put
allot of value in certification. They don't yet possess the staff to truly
interview candidates. God knows the recruiting firms can't screen
applicants well, for the most part.
He needs to gain experience by being honest with the client and accepting a
lower rate. Yes, I am young in PeopleSoft. But, I have achieved this in
other areas and feel like I can make a valuable contribution to your team.
Yes, it'll be tough to get a position. But then, there is no expectation on
the client site of an more experienced consultant. Btw, every
in-experienced consultant going into a client under the guise of more
experience, will almost (not always) inevitable show their lack of
experience. Each time this happens, it further damages a clients view of
consultants as a whole.
In fact, I think that PeopleSoft should stipulate that consultants not be
allowed to take the certification until they have received at least a year
of documented experience with PeopleSoft. But alas, then we would have
people lying about that as well (Those same people that have no PM
experience but claim to in order to take the PMP)
These kind of people devalue whatever value there is in the certification.

On another note .... I know there are many of us that feel that the
certification is a farse. Some proclaim it more loudly than other's in this
forum. I think that's a little immature. Whilst it may have been easy
for you, others may have spent hundreds of hours preparing for the exam,
sometimes even failing it. Some people put allot of value in the test and
the fact that they passed it. To some, it's a summation of their skills.
Let's not belittle that, there's to much of that going on in this world as
it is.

I consider myself a top notch consultant. I have received the CRM
certification, HRMS, and Technical Certifications. I failed the HRMS exam
the first time I took it. Not because I don't know what I am doing, but
because I got the one variation of the test that had an abnormal amount of
Benefits related questions, the one module I have never touched in HR. The
next time I took the test, I passed with flying colors.

I agree that certification could give false hope but realistically after the watering down of the MCSE from Microsoft, I think that companies have become smarter when it comes to hiring and do it based on real experience=2E For me, it did give me a foot in the door so all us newbies had to and have to do whatever it takes and if he's really intent on getting in, it could show initiative on his part=2E When it comes down to it, it's the discretion of the company to make the hire=2E

Yup, it's every company's intention to have some level of standard but also to make some extra money charging huge amounts of money to take a course=2E Usually a week long course costs at least US$1500=2E To certify, it's usually about 5 courses in total=2E

Honestly speaking though, I have yet to see job postings looking for certifications, they're really only good if you're with a consulting firm and have a few years experience to boot=2E To really qualify, you need to look at having at least 2-3 full life cycle implementations, forget the certification=2E

If you have the cash, it might not help but honestly, I don't think it's worth doing=2E

Certification with PeopleSoft was in direct response to clients wanting some way of assuring themselves that the consultant had the knowledge they proported to have and really knew what they were doing. In the case of some other software packages the Certification process is quiet stringent and to say you are certified really meant you knew the product inside out.

With PS it is unfortunately a cash grab and does not mean that you know what you are doing. I can understand how you got the technical certification without having any real practical experince. For the functional certification you do have to have business and application knowledge but again the testing is multiple choice and you can fake your way through it. The Financial certification knowledge needs to be in GL and AP. Surprise that the AR/BI portion is not in there. Good luck but I agree with the previous comments the best way is to start as a junior consultant and get the experince on project and learn from a 'good' mentor. It is through learing with the application and real life situations that you will excell in the field. Good luck.